As Alan mentioned, in the life of the church,
not only is it Confirmation Sunday, but it is
the second Sunday of Easter. If you remember
just last week, we did the Easter thing. And
so we continue into the Easter season on the
path to Pentecost. And on this Sunday, typically,
if you are used to coming to church on this Sunday,
you might know that often we read the story
of a disciple named Thomas, Doubting Thomas.
But you might also be interested to learn that
the lectionary gives us more than just Thomas.
And so our second text this morning is two for
the second Sunday of Easter, and it comes from
the stories of Acts, the Acts of the Apostles,
or maybe the Acts of the Holy Spirit from the
early days of the church. Friends, let us go
to God in prayer before we read this scripture.
Let us pray. Good and gracious God, we give you
thanks for this day, for this morning and time,
for the wails of praise, for the places, the
lives, and the stories that you have gathered
us from, that we may be all here in this place,
settled in this moment. May your spirit descend
down upon us, filling us, opening our eyes and
our minds and our ears, that we might receive
a message of hope, a message of something different,
that we might go from this place transformed.
May the words of my mouth and the meditations
of all our hearts gathered here in this place
be pleasing to you, O God, our rock and our redeemer.
Amen. Hear now these words from Acts 5, and we're
picking up kind of right in the middle of the
story at verse 25. Then someone arrived and announced,
look, the men whom you put in prison are standing
in the temple and teaching the people. Then the
captain went with the temple police and brought
the apostles, but without violence. For the police
were afraid of being stoned by the people. When
they brought in the apostles, they had them stand
before the council. And the high priest questioned
them, saying, We gave you strict orders not to
teach in his name. Yet here you have filled Jerusalem
with your teaching, and you are determined to
bring this man's blood upon us. But Peter and
the apostles answered them, we must obey God
rather than human authority. The God of our ancestors
raised up Jesus, whom you had killed by hanging
him on a tree. God exalted him at his right hand
as leader and savior, that he might give repentance
to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we, we
are witnesses to these things. And so is the
Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey
him. Friends, this too is the word of God for
the people of God. Thanks be to God. Now it seems
to me, and you can agree or disagree, but it
seems to me that as we grow older, we tend to
lose touch. with some of the most significant
parts of our childhood. This text from the early
chapters of Acts, it makes me think of one of
my favorite childhood pastimes. It's right up
there with nap time and with snack time, which
if you're lucky enough to go to children's church,
you can still have snack time. It's this moment
where children are gathered. Maybe they are invited
to take a beanbag or to pull up a carpet square
to sit down and sit quietly or as quiet as you
can and to listen. Can you think of what I'm
thinking of? It's story time. Do you remember
story time? Do you remember those moments of
childhood? Do you remember being captivated by
the stories that your teacher might have read
you when you were a child? Or maybe it was a
moment at home when your mother or your father
or your babysitter or grandparent or aunt or
uncle, where they grabbed your favorite book
and said, let's read a story. For me, it was
books like If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, Harold
and the Purple Crayon. You remember that one?
Dr. Seuss. Maybe for you, like it was for me,
it was the stories of the Bible that would be
read to me and they would come alive. Noah's
Ark, the animals two by two, David and Goliath,
Samson's strength, the creation narrative. Maybe
it was the stories of Jesus and the many miracles
that he did and performed. Now in preschool,
I loved... every Monday morning. I don't love
them as much now, but I used to love Monday mornings
because I got to go to chapel time. We got to
leave class and come into the sanctuary and sit
on the front steps as the pastors taught us a
story. Now, if you don't know this about me,
there's an extra layer to why I love that. The
pastors were my parents. I felt like the cool
kid. Right? Everybody else was so excited to
go see Dr. Dan and Dr. Helen, but I got to walk
in and say, hey, Mom and Dad. Right? It was different.
And it was a moment there in chapel time with
my peers where these stories of Scripture, they
were read once again to us, but even better,
they were acted out. We got to be the characters.
We got to see these stories literally come alive
in front of us. I've always been fascinated by
stories, just fascinated by stories. Of course,
those that are concocted in this imaginative
genius of writers, but especially the stories
that arise up out of the journeys of people's
lives. Now, the best stories... are the ones
where you're sitting there, and as you're being
told it, you can't help but just blurt out at
different moments, what happened next? Okay,
but what happened next? Don't dramatic pause
me. What happened next? These are the stories
that captivate us, that leave us wanting more.
They're the stories that just lead us to this
place where our minds can't quite comprehend
the reality of the tale. There's just something
different. It's the stories of our own lives
where something happens, where someone happens
to be that are so life -altering, so life -altering
that we just can't help but to share. These stories
with everyone we meet, with everyone that will
just lend us an ear to listen. Do you have these
kind of stories? Do you have these stories? Do
you want to share those stories with me, with
us? Are you sitting here this morning? With those
stories, but just waiting for an invitation,
for someone to stop for a minute to see you and
to say, tell me about your life. Tell me a story.
Tell me your story. Now in this story of the
early church, the apostles find themselves On
the other side, here at verse 25, they find themselves
on the other side of a midnight jailbreak. Just
before our reading, some background, the temple
authorities, they have sent the apostles to jail,
to prison, the public prison, as the text says.
They have sent them there for healing, for teaching,
and for sharing this story of the resurrected
Jesus Christ. Now, while in prison, an angel
comes and it busts them out of prison. They're
in the middle of the night. And the apostles
do what someone would do if they simply just
had a story to share. They go back. They go back
to the temple courts, back to the place where
they had just been arrested the day before. And
as they go back there, They continue to witness.
Now they do this on the angel's command. The
angel breaks them out of prison and says, go,
stand in the temple and tell the people, tell
the people the whole message about this life.
The next morning, the prison police, as we've
read, are shocked. shocked to find that the prison
is there, securely locked. But the apostles are
nowhere to be seen. They report this rather unfortunate
news to the chief priests, who likewise can't
wrap their minds around it. They don't know what's
going on. They're wondering what's happened.
Where are they? And it's right then that we get
to 25, when someone shows up. Someone shows up
to announce that these formerly imprisoned apostles,
they're back in the temple courts teaching the
people and sharing their stories of faith. So
the authorities pull them back in. What are you
doing? What do you think you are doing? Did we
not explicitly tell you yesterday to keep your
mouth shut? Did you not get the message? Was
it not clear that we do not want to hear about
your faith? I don't know if you know, but that's
why we threw you in prison. We don't want to
hear about your faith. The last thing that the
chief priests want from these apostles. It's
for them to share their story of this Jewish
rabbi who was publicly mocked, flogged, and executed
on the cross by the Romans. The last thing the
chief priest want is to hear about these experiences
of faith in that man who was dead for three days
and then alive again. It's as if the world looks
at the apostles, And wielding the power of society,
the power of the systems, the power of status
and roles, it's as if the world looks at the
apostles and says, don't you dare tell me about
your faith. Don't tell me about your faith. But
in that imprisonment, physically behind bars
and spiritually handcuffed, God shows up. God
shows up in the angel and exclaims, be free.
Go. Tell your story. For your experience, what
you've seen, this is a story of life. And it
needs to be shared. Tell me about your faith.
Tell me about your faith. What have you seen?
What have you heard? What have you felt? What
have you tasted? What have you smelled? Tell
me about your faith. Whereas God flung open the
doors in your life and said, Thomas, this is
what the kingdom of heaven looks like. Martha,
this is what the kingdom of heaven looks like.
Bennett, this is what the kingdom of heaven looks
like. Tell me about your faith. Where has God
shown up? In the still, quiet place. In the casseroles
and in the flowers. In the cards and in the prayers.
In the meal of Maundy Thursday. In the grief
of Good Friday. in the lingering death of Holy
Saturday and in the resonating music of resurrection
on Easter morning and the baptism of your son.
Tell me about your faith. Where are God's fingerprints
in the life that you've lived, in the stories
that you've told and you have to tell? Tell me
about your faith. Every time we look at each
other and we lead with a childlike curiosity
to say to our neighbor, to our friends, to our
family, to a stranger, tell me about your faith.
Every time we do that, we open ourselves up to
a brand new way, a brand new way that God has
been and is and will continue to move in the
world around us. When we have the courage to
look at someone and to say, what's your story?
What's your story? We learn something about the
storyteller, but we also learn something about
God who is the architect of that story. To obey
God is to witness to the miraculous, even if
it's microscopic, places of our lives where the
resurrected Jesus has shown up. Peter proclaims
to the chief priest, we are witnesses to these
things. What we've experienced, it's so radical
and life -changing that we must share it, no
matter what you say or command. He says to the
chief priest, I understood what you asked of
us. I understood why you put us in prison, but
I'm led by the commands of my God. by the angel
who broke me out of that prison and said, go,
by the God who defeated death, that we all may
have life. Tell me about your faith. Tell me.
This year, our confirmation class spent some
of our time reflecting on the writings of Frederick
Buechner, Frederick Buechner has been referenced,
I think, in many of his sermons in this sanctuary,
is a pastor and a theologian and a writer. And
he has this gift, in my opinion, for taking these
abstract theological ideas and themes and bringing
them into a frame that just makes sense. He says
it in such a way that it just makes sense. One
of his greatest gifts, not only for the confirmands
who have been at this work examining their faith
and what it means and who God is in their lives.
This is also a gift for each of us. It's a gift
for you if you are one in this room who doubts.
It's a gift for you if you are one who is here
dreaming and imagining and wondering. It's a
gift for each of us on our own paths or on our
own journeys of faith. And Buechner writes this
in his memoir, Now and Then. It's the pondering
prayerfully on the very back of your bulletin.
Listen to your life. Listen to your life. See
it for the fathomless mystery that it is. In
the boredom and the pain of it. No less than
in the excitement and the gladness. Touch, taste,
smell your way to the holy and hidden heart of
it, because in the last analysis, all moments
are key moments, and life itself is grace. If
you find yourself lost for words, when you're
sharing your story of who God is in your life,
and sharing the stories of your faith, that's
okay. Stop for a second. Stop for a minute. Stop
for an hour. Stop for a day. Just stop. Stop.
Close your eyes. Go on, close your eyes. Close
your eyes. Trust me. Take a deep breath and listen
to your life. Listen to your life. Search for
the moments. Look where you haven't looked before.
Think of those people you haven't thought of
in a long time. Do you see the holy? Do you feel
the sacred in that story? That story that is...
your story. Tell me about your faith. Let us
pray. Good and gracious God, we hear your call
to go to witness to this life. Fill us not only
with courage and strength, but with peace. And
knowing that we don't go alone. And knowing that
there is someone out there who not only wants
to but needs to hear our story. Lead us to those
places and those people. That your love might
be known in this world. We pray this all in the
name of the Father and of the Son and of the
Holy Spirit. Amen.